right now. alexandria city and faulk skeer ko county schools tomorrow. loudoun county schools are planning to open with a one-hour delay. there's still no word on the federal government status tomorrow. >> got a little bit of snow this evening. nothing, absolutely nothing like next week. >> there are spots still with leftover snows as you can see. but over the last hour there's been much sprinkles, and there's a bit more moisture to our south. but temperatures by the same token are well above freezing. and temperatures right now 34 degrees. so anything that continues to fall shouldn't really be causing

any problems. out of the mountains in west virginia, there will be some more overnight tonight. here's what's going on the east. for a couple of hours, we had a little bit of snow. most lifting to the north. i think we are pretty much sighing it end. >> thank you, bob. roads across the d.c. area remain marked with reminders of last week's storm. trying to figure out how to make tomorrow's commute.

>> good evening. it began snowing here around 3:00 this afternoon. and it's a light sprinkle, no accumulati accumulation. they're optimistic at this point that they will be open tomorrow. montgomery county public schools plan to open two hours late tomorrow. >> when school buses sp, stop and let the kids get on and let them get off tomorrow afternoon. >> some students who missed a total of nine snow days this year say they're ready to get back to school. >> i want to see some of my friends i don't gate chance to see. >> i'm ankle deep in snow.

to get here, you literally have to climb up a mountain. so a lot of people instead are just standing in the road. and that could be dangerous for students waiting for buss. the hard packed snow could force some to wait in the streets as well. >> at financial institutes of health at bethesda, they have a large crew dging out their sidewalks and entrances. >> we clean out the sidewalks. you can see on the road, too. >> the state highway authority is responsible for clearing mean roadways like old georgetown road, wisconsin and connecticut avenues, river road and east-west highway. traffic has been slowed because the far right lane hasn't fully been cleared of snow. crews were out today trying to widen them. plows are once again lining up

for fresh supplies of salt to treat the streits. the loading process has been going on for hours. prince george county public schools are closed tomorrow. but the school superintendent is sending a letter homeor parents, urging them either individually or community groups to clear sidewalks, so student, especially the young ones, can walk to bus stops safely. that's the latest. >> today some school bus drivers in arlington county went out to te routes ahead of tomorrow's class. tracy wilkins went out with one of the bus drivers. >> i got a pick up at 26th. >> this school bus driver today is navigating his regular route to make sure his large school bus can make it on arlington's snow-bound roads. some turns were just fine while

others -- there is no way to make a left turn here, as you can see. >> the kids are standing, the sidewalks have been plowed, we're feeding that information back to our staff as well as county staff so if there's a need that we identified we can quickly go ahead and try to correct it. >> and we found some areas in need of the skrea correction. we just need to make sure the kids aren't standing in the street as best we can. >> today's run will not be the final decision maker for whether there will be school tomorrow. not with the more snow looming. >> i wish i had an absolute answer for you. but i think we have to assess

the situation in the morning. but you're right, i've lived here over 50 years. and snow can bring everythg to a grinding halt. but i think we've gotten hardier velt of that and i think people are red doi go. >> it's interesting to see from a school bus's vantage point while a county like arlington will close when we have significant snow. a lot of windy steep roads, very narrow now and sidewalks that are still packed with snow as well. while parents and others are helpingo volunteer, these are all things that have to be taken into consideration, not just for this past storm but every storm. in arlington, i'm tracy wilkins, news 4. >> again, as of this evening, arlington county schools are scheduled to open on a two-hour delay tomorrow. >> on major streets and bridges, there's a major effort to hall away ton of snow piled up in our travel lanes. crews are using heavy equipment

to move the snow and they're working 12-hour shifts, but even still there's no promise that the tuesday morning rush hour will be anything close to normal. hi, tom. >> hi, doreen. the city is trying to get ready for tomorrow's rush hour. today there are ugly surprises for some motorists. it's worse when you get a snow emergency route ticket. >> $250! there's not a lick of snow in the sky. >> it's been in effect since 9:00. >> how is a man supposed to know there's an emergency route on the news and they're driving in their car?

>> on pennsylvania avenue southeast, the mayor says they're going into their 20th 12-hour shift trying to move snow from as many streets and intersections as possible for tomorrow's rh hour. >> i can't say with an exact science, but we'll break our back and work through the night as we did last night to make as many of the streets open to all the lanes as possible. >> but with many bus stops buried in snow, fire hydrants covered and trash piling up is going to be hard for the city to get back to normal. but listen, take these snow emergency sign signs seriously. $250 ticket, possible towing and

other fees if you don't pay attention. back to you. coming up tonight, we'll tell you about two trains that crashed into each other today. >> a teacher accused of opening fire and killing three faculty members on the campus of an alabama college. >> some waves caused serious problems for spectators at a surfing contest. >> coming up in sports, tony stewart gives a member of the media a piece of his mind. potholes causing some major delays during the daytona 500. plus the nba put oons texas-sized show

two computer trained crashed in belgium today. 80 others were injuried. 20 of them seriously. it happened during the morning rush hour brussels. someone train ran through a signal and slammed into another train leighing a station. they're investigating what role freezing temperatures may have played in the crash. a school collapsed in haiti today. three children were killed.

it happened at a school 80 miles north of port-au-prince. one of the school walls saved in to this afternoon. the act cause is not completely clear yet. a deadly earthquake killed an estimated 200,000 people in haiti. >> thousands of marines and international forces are taking back the largest area of marjah in the helmand process. >> they're making slow and steady progress. this is a town of about 120,000 has been a taliban strong hold.

a number of u.s. nato forces are trying to drive the taliban from civilian areas and bringing together local governments to replace them. the problem is, the town was heavily booby trapped. a lot of the fighters left. and decided they didn't want to confront this big push, but they left behind many, many bobby trans. some of themn cars. there's also been some sporadic sniper fire. >> there's been no shortage of ids. >> casualties have been fairly light. only one u.s. and one british soldier have been reported killed so far. >> in a separate development today, five civilians were kied in an air strike in neighboring kandahar province in southern afghanistan. a joint patrol saw them digging

along a path. two rockets missed their target by approximately 1/3 of a mile. general stanley mcchrystal is the top nato commander. he apologized for the rockets that went off course and said the system would not be used again until a review of the incident was concluded. ecretary of state hillary rodham clinton had some harsh words for rye ran. before she arrived in saudi arabia today, she told reporters that iran's revolutionary guard is asserting more and more control over the governance of iran. they're a military entity that's always been separate from the ordinary armed forces, but the guard is now involved in every critical area of operation. from missile development and

nuclear technology to road construction, and telecommunications. >> we see that the government of iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament is being supplanted and that iran is moving towards a military dictatorsh dictatorship. >> the secretary of state is the first high-level member of the obama administration is the first to suggest the government is being telling over by the military. some say the accusation reflects diminishing hopes that iran might be persuaded to negotiate limits on its nuclear program. >> indiana senator evan bayh announced today he will not seek re-election. >> i love working for the people of indiana.

i love helping citizens make the most of their lives, but i do not love congress. >> senator bayh said his decision is not an indictment of his colleagues or the president. he was on the short list of potential running mates during the 2008 campaign. >> details about the suspect charged in a deadly shooting own friday at the university of alabama in huntsville. amy bishop is the woman accused of opening fire during a faculty meeting. she is said to have till kilned three colleagues and wounded three others. according to published reports, bishop also was a suspect in a 1993 attempted mail bombing in boston. the target there was her former boss. no one was ever charged in that case. and in 1986 when bishop was 19 years old, she shot and killed

her brother. that was ruled an accident. investigators declined to talk about the motives for the shooting on friday, but witnesses said bishop was angry over the fact that she had been denied tenure at that school. a. >> big waves cause for people in a surfing competition. >> and bob will be in with another check on the latest round of snow that's mov

huge waves caused some serious problems at a surfing contest in northern california over the weekend. it happened at a competition in a place called half moon bay near san francisco. dozens of spectators were swept away from a man made jetty on saturday when the weaves hit. several people had to be pulled from the water. some of them had broken bones. authorities eventually shut down several sections of that beach. >> pretty extreme. let's check in with bob and find out, is this really it? there's no more coming overnight or in the morning or anything else? >> i missed it. what was that? that was a snow sneeze compared to some of those huge storms of last week. our temperatures are still above freezing in washington. in case you missed it, there was a little bit of light snow. d for a time, it was enough to

whiten some of the dirty stuff out there. and there's still a few little pockets, but really nothing to be overly concern about. our high temperature made it up to 39 degrees. any time we have 1/10 of an inch it sets a record because it adds to the existing record of the snowiest winter ever in washington. look what's been happening out west. you probably heard of the strange weather in vancouver, but it is really a bit of an el nino pattern. there's the moist air, the mild r going more to the north and more rain will probably be coming in eventually. the folks there would love to see one of these storms heading to the south. but with this winter the way it's been, not only has it been mild through parts of the pacific northwest, but then also as is typical of an el nino, we do have a strong southern jet

which has been bringing moisture into the southern part. that's the reason we've seen unusual big coastal storms. right now, in seattle, 55 degrees. temperatures through much of the west, well above average as much of the east was 10 to 15 degrees colder than average. right now, in or around us, here's how things look on doppler. you can see that band of snow. it's still some moderate snows. and there will be several inches of snow. ohio into pennsylvania, but all of that is continuing to move more to our north, maybe some sprinkles, you folks down sboin charles county and southern maryland. there could be a little bit more.

it's been as much as you can see rain showers as anything. all of this lifting out a bit to the north. so as we go to the nighttime hours, what we're going to be seeing is a bit more of the same. overnight tonight, temperatures will be holding around freezing. by the way, our snow on the ground right now, right now in the avere general area is about a foot and a half, not quite as much adds duluth, but look at caribou, maine. no snow on the ground. no snow on the ground. even burlington has two inches of snow on the ground while we still have a foot and a half. wright now, washington. frederick, maryland, 30 degrees. some of these wet spots will have iced up overnight tonight. there will be snows out on the mountains in west virginia. we are unfortunately going to still stay for the most part

cloudy and chilly. temperatures again tomorrow running 10 degrees to 15 degrees below average. tomorrow morning when you get up and head out a breezy, cloudy morning. some sunshine during the afternoon, but still windy and cold. our temperature, even on into thursday and friday, we'll see a fair amount of sunshine, once again, well below average. by the time we get into next week, and next weekend, our temperatures on average getting close to 50 degrees. i don't see the 50s nor do i see big storms. >> thank you, bob. >> coming up tonight, parents, students, volunteer, all shoveling snow in virginia today. in an effort to clear sidewalks and bus stops. before the kids go back to school. >> we'll tell you how metro is

getting ready for the possibility of federal workers coming back to work tomorrow. >> the government's cash for appliances program is gting under way in some states. >> and we'll report on the woman who design the the art work featured on the olympic medals in vancouver. stay tuned. >> coming up in sports, the nba all-star game goes down to the wire. tony stewart, shocker. getting confrontational with the media. plus potholes, more than a nuisance at the daytona 500. details as news 4 at 6:00 continue

we're back now with continuing coverage of our top story. >> weather permitting thousands of students and federal employees will be going back to class and work tomorrow, many of them for the first time since back to back blizzards paralyzed the d.c. area last week. they spent much of the weekend trying to clear the roads ahead of the commute tomorrow. but it wasn't just road crews clearing snow. in virginia, many school districts asked parents, students and volunteers to help clear snow from sidewalks and bus stops. we have more on the story now from arlington. john? >> that's right, we are here in front of key elementary school here in arlington. and they're gearing ready for the kids to hoed back to school tomorrow.

the sidewalks are clear. to make sure there are no accidents tomorrow, today the parents got to work. >> this ice is not easy to cut through, but patients here have rounded up the community to clear the sidewalks. even the school's principal is helping out. >> what is it like digging snout. >> hard work. i did it at home and now i'm doing it here. you soo all these people here helping out this school and the kids who go to it. >> a lot of kids are too young to help. parents and faculty mapped ute plan to make sure all the bus stops are clear. >> are you frustrated with the county's clean-up effort? >> i'm not frustrated.

this is the biggest storm we've ever seen in this area. i think they're doing the best they can. and there's a lot of little small streets in the back. i think they're doing the best they can. >> fairfax county police are also stepping up patrol tomorrow. >> what can parents do to keep their children safe? >> there are three things parents can do for us tomorrow. they can car pool, thecan car pool, they can car pool. the schools are going to be crowded. the buss are going to have difficulties coming in, and the fewer cars we have come into the schools themselves will help us out tremendously. >> kids will be kids tomorrow, so adults will have to be on the lookout. >> when you put 5 to 11-year-olds out in three foot of snow, their first instinct is to play. my words are to parents and drivers and commuters and neighborhood people to watch out for children. >> you heard it, car pool, car pool, car pool. now, here in arlington, schools will be opening on two-hour

delay. the city of alexandria is doing something different. they surveyed the area schools and decided it's still too unsafe to send the kids back, so tomorrow, those schools will not be open. back to you. . >> there was a derailment on the red line on friday that left three passengers with minor injuries dan wattrell has our report. >> reporter: work crews are clearing snow and gearing up for tuesday's real rush hour. >> we do plan on aur rail system, we expect to have a full complement of metro buses out there tomorrow morning as well.

>> this is how the commute looked on friday morning with gridlocked roads. a metro derailment shut down part of the red line for three hours, creating a commuter nightmare. >> it took me 2 1/2 hours to get to work, and i'm a little bit concerned tomorrow and hope it's not the same two-hour commute. >> reporter: but metro officials say it wasn't just the derailment causing friday's major delays. flrp other issues that day that have since been resolved. >> we were digging out our rail switches. because of that, the speed trains were operating to make sure we wouldn't have any mechanical issues or breakdowns. the eye crews are still removing heavy snow from computmuter lot.

metro asks you to check their website in the morning but they expect things to be running to full capacity. >> metro says it serves 240,000 passengers during a typical weekday commute. >> the president from the university of maryland announced today he will step down from his post at the end of the summer. he took his office back in 1998. by the enof his tenure, he will be the skol's fourth longest serving president. in a letter to the campus community, he wrote, serving as your president has been an extraordinary personal privilege and the most rewarding experience of my professional life. >> he's credited with boosting graduation rates, expanding campus facilities and increasing

research. he plans to take a one-year leave of absence before returning as an engineering professor. >> if that old drier or dishwasher in your home isn't working as well as it should be, it could be a good time to buy a new one. the federal government is offering $300 million in rebates as part of a cash for aflienss program. but there are certain conditions buyers need to know about. >> the government is doing for your home what cash for clunkers did for your car. >> federal money, want to take advantage of it. >> rebates for energy epatient washer, drier, air conditioners. >> clothes washer, dishwasher, refrigerators, freezers, furnaces, hot water heaters. >> it was so popular in kansas, they've already won out of money.

>> i might as well go ahead and do it. >> angela duncan can't wait for the rebates to hit her area. '. >> i'm going to save big pennies. extra money in my pocket and my bill is going to be very cheap. >> first cars, now appliances. victoria vargas wonders what's next. >> maybe they can do it for something else. >> the idea is to save money and save energy. but not everyone thinks it will work. >> in certain areas, only low income qualify, so check before you shop. some states will even give you an extra rebate if you recycle the old appliances. from washington, i'm trac

traci potts, news 4. >> virginia's version will start in april. general electric which owns nbc is a major manufacturer of energy efficient appliances. >> more problems tonight for toyota. the government has received dozens of new kplants about the company's sudden acceleration problems. the national highway traffic stafty administration says reports of at least 13 deaths have come in since toyota's recall was announced three weeks ago. that raises the number of alleged deaths because of the problem to 34. toyota has recalled millions of cars around the world because of the acceleration problem. the company also has recalled cars because of problems with floor mats and brakes. >> coming up on news 4. a report from vancouver. i'll tell you why this year's olympic medals are a little different than they've been in the past. >> the westminster kennel club

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kweeng. bob ryan, storm center. our temperature still above freezing as you can see. most everything is to our north. there are still areas down into southern maryland. maybe wet snowflakes, but

certainly not anything that's going to accumulate all that much. while delayed openings and maybe some more cancel layings, it will be breezy and windy for heading out to school. look overnight tonight. temperatures will be dip into the 20s. and tomorrow, after we get up, it will be still cloudy. ngering snows, snow squalls and snow showers, mown tiechbs west virginia. but just nenly cloudy around here. a bit of melting going on. temperature still below average into the low 40s, back to you. >> thank you, bob. the ultimate goal for the olympic athletes is toeave the game with a metal. in vancouver, that means a real work of art. phil rogers joining us with more. hi, phil. >> here in vancouver the organizers have gone one step further. for the first time ever, no two

medals are alike. >> for some olympians, it is the symbol of victory. a treasure to be cherished for a lifetime. >> it's so special to the athletes. special to, you know, the countries that are winning the medals. >> reporter: corinne hunt has a tron watch. gold, silver and bronze, she created the first nations art work which adorns each one. >> the idea that these medals will be seen by a billion people and travel to many countries. very cool. >> reporter: she actually create the one large piece of art, depiction of the killer whale, the orca, which holds a special place in the hearts of her people. >> they travel in a pod. they're communityriented and i think of the athletes as, you know, individuals but they work with their teams. so there's one, two, three, four, five, the olympics rings.

>> each represents a unique piece of the larger art work. >> this is the actual size. the croppings are taken for the medal. so there's crop there, for example. that's what a medal would look like. a crop there. oar crop there. >> each is different, which means every athlete receives a medal uniquely their own. >> and if you put all of the medals together, they will make this design. >> reporter: they're a personal piece of art that will travel the world that now become a tangible piece of the olympic story. >> each athlete is this big, but they're a part of the big movement. >> she calls the raven a symbol of creativity and hope. doreen, the@leases will also receive a scar ff they have a

m medal. they can place their medal on the art work and figure out where it came from. >> the medals are beautiful. americans will be out trying to win more medals tonight, including the pairs figure skating. more on what we can look forward to beginning at 8:00. >> starting tonight at 8:00, competition heats up for the gold medal finals in pairs figure skating. you can watch it live. among the best hopes for a u.s. medal, mark ladwig and his partner amanda evora. the two were runners up at the u.s. nationals and set a career best finished tenth in sunday night's short program. plus, men's 500 meter speed skating. americans have won the past two olympic races but skaters from asia have had the most recent international success. >> i think the most challenging part is going to be dealing with soft snow. and look for the highlights of the snowboard cross event.

nate holland among those competing for the u.s. >> i think it's in good shape considering the weather. >> men's downhill skiing flies out of the starting gate. bode miller had the best time in training. >> for more, visit our home page, nbcwashington.com. >> daytona 500. i don't know if you caught any of that over the weekend. oh, my goodness. huge potholes! like around town here, man. but imagine driving 180 miles an hour. a record crowd witnesses the nba all-star game in dallas. plus an ovechkin-like goal from a u.s. women's hockey player. this was phenomenal. news 4 at 6:00 continues.

>> all-star game usually shows, what? >> about 100 dunks. >> yeah, you know, how outrageous they can be. >> it was amazing. a lot more than they expected. most of dallas still buzzing about two other topics, snow removal, of course. they got about a foot down there. and the all-star game. cowboy stadium was packed to the gils, a record crowd of 108,000.

the biggest crowd to ever watch a basketball game. lots of partying at jerry jones palace. the scoreboard, larger than the actual basketball court. phenomenal plays. that alley-oop to dwight howard was one of them. the east is in blue. wane wade leaves it for lebron james. that looked pretty good. under ten seconds left in the first quarter. chauncey billups gets it over to kevin durant. that's a buzzer beater. he hit 15 in his first all-star game. the laze dipass is swiped away by dwyane wade and he's making it look easy. 28 points and 11 assists for dwvmt wade. these guys wanted that victory. they inbound the ball to carmelo

anthony. >> baltimore's finest is off the mark. the east wins it 141-19. dwyane wade takes home the mvp trophy for the east in this one. on the college front, the hoyas fell to number ten in the rankings after that disappointing loss to rutgers. part of a three-game in five-day stretch for maryland. and if you have been on the road latelyyou have noticed the potholes. they are everywhere wreaking havoc. imagine hitting one of those potholes at 185 miles an hour an hour. not good. yesterday, a pesky basketball-sized pothole cause kauzed more than two hour worth of delays. 6 1/2 hours after the race started a teary eyed jamie mcmurray was the unlookly driver celebrating in victory lane. during the pothole-related

delays, drivers had to get out of the cars, loosen up, mingle a little bit. look that the pothole. second attempt to win the race, under a green flag. jamie mcmurray holding off dale earnhardt jr. earnhardt climbed all the way from tenth to second. jamie mcmurray holds him off to win the daytona 500 for the first time in his career. a very emotional win for mcmurray. >> i told my wife today. she was like if you win tonight -- i'm going to cry. i thought if i made it without seeing my dad. or my wife i would be okay. but it's just -- it's

unbelievable, really. i can't explain it. a and. >> obviously a little emotion. maybe that's why he's so feisty with the media down in daytona. tony did give one lucky media member a piece of his mind. >> do you think that it's too safe out there, that fans like the dang err little bit. >> well, i would say the media center is too boring because you have four legs on your chair, so we could start sawing legs off your chairs. what do you think about that?

do you like that idea? are you paying attention? what do you think? >> i don't know why i think th's so funny. everybody is sitting there waiting for your reaction. what are you going to say? >> you want to get away? >> oh, yeah, you want to get away at that point. tony stewart loves embarrassing people. >> it looks like ms. lindsey vonn is going to be just fine. she posted the fastest time during training. now she has to be considered one of the favorites. bode miller as we told you competed in the men's downhill. that wrapped up today. ovechkin and semin against finland. not a good day for team russia.

finland beats team russia 5-1. how about team usa taking on china. there's vice president biden taking on the captain of the 1980 miracle on team. on friday, the nationals signed tavl rez to a minor league contract and invited him to spring takening. he stole a career high 68 bases. he can also play solid defense.

he might be somebody that actually makes that team.

our temperature here in washington remains above freezing. there are some sprinkles, showers, maybe some wet snowflakes mixed in, but certainly no accumulation that we're really going to have to worry about. tomorrow morning, temperatures

will be below freezing behind this little area of storminesst. the we will see temperatures into the 20s. so any of those wet spots could be a bit icy. walter crane is a sculptor and landscape designer and has fun with snow. there's some of his latest creations in falls church. grasshopper a lot of folks say we would love to see that snow just hop away. the it's not going to be hopping away with temperatures only getting up into the low 40s later in the week. the day by day sunshine, and i think we'll see more sunshine on thursday and friday and into the weekend. a chance for a little wave. that was the little minione. >> thank you. sheriff's deputies dssed up as valentine's day delivery men. new details of an elaborate plan

to arrest wanted criminals in one maryland county. and watch a big screen proposal gone wrong that has all of talking. >> the westminster kennel club dog show is now under way up in new york city. it's a two-day event, the height of a show dog's career. the equivalent of the olympic games or academy awards. and the road to victory can be very expensive. 2,500 dogs are competing this year. hounds, toy dogs, nonsporting and the herding breesds were shown today. was that your sdmoog. >> >> it looke like it. >> there are three new breeds. the red and white irish setter, the shepherd and a norwegian sheep dog. the coveted best in show dog will be presented tomorrow night. there's an early favorite, named sadie. she won back in november. it was her